Tribune Tavern in old Oakland Trib bldg
I hope this succeeds. It's such an iconic building in downtown Oakland and the area has had some really tough economic troubles during the last few tumultuous years:
Chris Pastena of ChopBar, who is also working on converting Miss Pearl's Jam House at Jack London Square into a northern Italian restaurant, is simultaneously working on Tribune Tavern, in the old Oakland Tribune building downtown. It will be a tavern and bar concept that he's hoping to open by March 2013. He hopes to make announcements on chefs at both new restaurants shortly.
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Went in for the first time for happy hour yesterday- well-crafted, if a little light on the booze, cocktails, $5. The best of those was the margarita; all are slightly different than you'd expect. The gin and tonic with house tonic was dark in appearance, and the mai tai looked milky.
Mediocre beers litter the landscape- too much Linden St., and Mendocino Brewing- really? The ubiquitous Racer 5 was the best of the bunch. Rock Wall Zin on tap, and a nice rye whiskey selection professionally served- large ice cubes.
Dinner service begins at 5pm, when I ordered the pork trotter and cheek fritters. This is hands-down the singlemost must order dish in the town right now.
Very lively by the time I left; beautiful space.
The wings I saw come out didn't look great, but a new friend's burger looked fantastic.
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re: Pius Avocado III
Robert Lauriston
May 11, 2013 10:14 AM
The tongue might be even more of a must-order than the fritters. Here's my report:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/898527
Tonic made from scratch is always dark from the cinchona bark. The commercial stuff must be made from essence or highly filtered or something.
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re: escargot3
Robert Lauriston
Apr 11, 2013 12:58 PM
Cheeseburger with french fries. Same price as Disco Volante, a dollar cheaper than Plum.
The other entrees are $16-19, which seems quite reasonable.
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I walked by yesterday and the place was nearly full at lunchtime. Signs in the window indicated the official opening is April 10. It looks like a large, attractive space.
Diablo Dish reports that they'll have an in-house butcher and kitchen space devoted to the bar:
http://www.diablomag.com/D-blog/Diablo-Dish/April-2013/Weekly-Dish-East-Bay-Openings/
Just since yesterday, the webiste has been updated, menu here:
http://tribunetavern.com/?page_id=10
The 21-day dry-aged ribeye @ $40 will be a first downtown. Oddly, they don't mention dry-aging for the other steaks, topping out at $44 for the t-bone.
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